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East Kent Trophy 2018

Date Published

Tue 15 May 2018

How is it possible to be Last, First and Third all in one night? Quite easily it would seem taking into account the vagaries of Judges!

All obsessed with the same problems in images, and straight away they start on the negatives, the 20’s fly away, even though these are each Club's best of the best! FCC ‘s Print section did not fair well in the first half, with Flanders Field having too many white bits of stone and he couldn’t decide how many poppies was optimum, a harsh 15. The Silver Walkway, a confident and enthusiastic start to his commentary only to fall as although the figure was in just the right place he seemed to want her full frontal and it had the dreaded light bits in the corners, another harsh 15. Flamingo feathers, Our Award Winner, best in show, definite 20! Only scored 18, wanted to see all the legs and all the beak!!!!! And our Final offering the Pipe Major, the opening statement,”I hate Bagpipes, the harsh sound really”, didn't bode well,but then he slightly warmed to the ruddy face and character on show but wanted the silver bits toned down, 17 ! FCC was in 5th place out of 5. We dispersed to the enjoy the huge feast on offer, the Present Chairman somewhat deflated and wanting to leave for home.

We resumed our seats and on the preview thought FCC images looked strong compared, and that proved correct as each one came up for inspection the comments hit a more positive level. First one up Contemplation, he loved the light and smoke all goo, 19. Unfortunately there had been 2 Grass track images in the Print section, and although our ‘Crash’ was better, he had seen enough muck and dust, 18, should have been 20! Swanage Pier also hit the right note with him, loved everything, the sky, the symmetry and no Buts! Another 19, then our star image again no negatives and our first 20 for Fight or Flight. So we were top with 76 out of 80 but with the low score from the first half could not recover the ground and had to settle for Third Place. Chris Shore, a Premier Judge, film worker, non digital processor was challenged with some of the more edgy, brave pictures, which other Clubs tested him with. He applauded their bravery but you just knew they would not score well, ICM, lack of all over focus, wrong depth of field and highlights were the things mentioned the most. I think we all felt he is a traditionalist, his choices, with some images, which scored highly confounded us, but, another night another judge, a different result. The images were on the most part good images, many had been accepted in salons in some cases won Golds, but in this company scored 14. There is never a sensible argument as to why, but personal opinion of what makes a successful picture is the outcome we have to accept!

But they still remain great pictures and each photographer should be proud of them .

The trouble is that so many people feel competitions are the only way to get advice to help them improve, but a lot of the judges do not have the technical skills to understand current trends and so end up demotivating more than they motivate. I wish we could embrace a culture of people wanting to share skills and looking to work together to develop ideas, and then we would increase both motivation and a sense of achievement within the club.

To be fair we were only one point out from getting second place. So we can not really complain. Chris Shore explained that the reason some marks seemed low was because he was marking laterally and therefore marks would be a little lower than expected. I think he knows his stuff and has plenty of experience be it in Photography or judgeing. He also was standing in for someone else who was supposed to do the night. Missing out on second place by just one point is not so bad.

"Chris Shore explained that the reason some marks seemed low was because he was marking laterally and therefore marks would be a little lower than expected." What does he mean by this? If he marked vertically would marks have been higher???

Personal opinion of what makes and image good or bad, is simply that and nothing more. My opinion need not be your opinion and vice-versa. But we can and should enjoy and encourage eachother's photographic skills without need of requiring an actual winner. ......I've always claimed that £20 gives me far more joy, ...than 20 points !

I agree with Andy. ...As a club we should care more about having friendly photography fellowship together and enjoying all the delights of our wonderful hobby beyond the means of competition.